Summer McIntosh frustrated to miss world mark despite claiming 3rd title at 2025 World Aquatics C’ships

SINGAPORE – Even after producing yet another dominant performance to claim her third title of the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore, Summer McIntosh’s immediate reaction was not one of jubilation.

Instead, the Canadian sensation looked visibly upset, covering her face with her hands after seeing her timing of 2min 1.99sec that won her the women’s 200m butterfly final at the WCH Arena on July 31.

It was a personal best, championships and Americas record, but the 18-year-old’s first thought was how she had just missed out on the all-time mark set in 2009 by China’s Liu Zige – by just 0.18 of a second.

She said: “I’m happy with the three golds – that was the goal going in but my other goal tonight was to break the world record, which I often don’t really say I’m focused on.

“But to see how close I was to breaking it and not getting it, I’m a little frustrated but I can’t be too hard on myself.

“It’s still a personal-best time and I’m dropping the time that I went just over a month ago, so I have to be decently happy with it.”

The teenager led throughout and was barely threatened, finishing ahead of the United States’ Regan Smith (2:04.99) and Australian Elizabeth Dekkers (2:06.12). China’s 12-year-old prodigy Yu Zidi was fourth in 2:06.43.

After her race, McIntosh, who won the 400m free and 200m medley events earlier in the week, told CBC Sports reporter Devin Heroux that “it was so close and I know that last 15 metres I took an extra breath and I should’ve had my head down”.

But coming close to the world record has only motivated the three-gold Olympic champion as she heads into her remaining events in Singapore – the 800m free and 400m individual medley.

She said: “Seeing how close I was gives me a lot of confidence. The way I felt in that final was amazing as well. I’m super, super excited for the 800m (free) and then of course the 400m individual medley.

“Now my focus is on getting a good recovery tonight and then getting ready for the heats tomorrow morning.”

While McIntosh was disappointed to miss out on the world record, David Popovici was at ease about not meeting the men’s 100m free all-time mark (46.40sec). But he did set a championship record with his winning effort of 46.51sec, ahead of American Jack Alexy (46.92sec) and Australia’s Kyle Chalmers (47.17sec).

The Romanian had been fourth at the turn, but powered home in the second 50m to take his second victory in Singapore, just two days after his 200m free win.

The 20-year-old said: “I’m happy that I’ve gotten closer to it, but this way I have something to... look forward to so that’ll keep me alert going on.”

Following his 200m free win, he shared that he had come close to pulling out of the Singapore meet, looking for flights back just days before competing.

It has not been a straightforward journey for Popovici since he became an Olympic champion at the 2024 Paris Games, where he won the 200m free gold and 100m bronze.

He said: “I’ve been thinking of the Olympics every day ever since I was 10, no exaggeration. But once I did that, I came to the realisation that nothing huge changes, like my life doesn’t change. I get a few perks, I get a few advantages, people know me as an Olympic champion, I’m proud of myself but nothing inherently changes.

“Coming into this, I really wanted to prove to myself that I can do it, even after such a hard and also successful year so it was an even bigger challenge.”

Meanwhile, it was business as usual for French swim star Leon Marchand, who took the men’s 200m individual medley crown, a day after shattering Ryan Lochte’s 14-year-old record with a time of 1:52.69 in the semi-finals.

The 23-year-old clocked 1:53.68 in the final, slower than his world mark, but still placed ahead of American Shaine Casas (1:54.30) and Hungary’s Hubert Kos (1:55.34), with all three training at the University of Texas at Austin under coach Bob Bowman.

The four-gold Olympic champion said: “I felt so excited yesterday that I couldn’t sleep. I was enjoying the moment a lot yesterday so I lost a lot of energy yesterday night. but it was my goal to break the record so I was really happy with it.

“Today was a different mood, I would say. I was going for the title, I was racing my teammates so that was pretty fun... and we are sharing the podium together, that just shows how good coach Bowman is.”

In the women’s 50m backstroke, American Katharine Berkoff won her first individual world title in 27.08sec despite being among the swimmers in the United States camp who were hit by a gastroenteritis outbreak.

Compatriot Regan Smith was second in 27.25sec, while China’s Wan Letian (27.30sec) was third.

The women’s 4x200m freestyle was won by Australia in 7:39.35, followed by the US (7:40.01) and China (7:42.99).

While Yu was not part of the quartet who won a bronze, the 12-year-old was still awarded a medal as she swam in the heats, becoming the youngest swimmer to get on the podium at an international meet in 89 years.

The last 12-year-old to win a medal at top level was Denmark’s Inge Sorensen, who bagged the women’s 200m breaststroke bronze less than a month after turning 12 at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.